Salvia glabrescens is a little-known (in gardening circles) woodland perennial sage from the mountains of Japan’s Honshu Island. We have been thrilled with their garden performance since 2005, but equally disappointed at their sales. Customers continually ask for fall-flowering plants for the woodland garden, yet fail to buy them when they are made available. Salvia The post The Bald Sages of Fall appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

I first met the rarely-cultivated slender-leaf blazing star on a 2022 staff expedition with Patrick McMillan and Zac Hill, to Jasper County, SC. Here, Liatris tenuifolia grew throughout the dry, sandy habitat in between gopher tortoise mounds. The native range of this species, stretches from SC southwest to Mississippi. Our seeds from the expedition sprouted, The post Slender-leaf Blazing Star appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

One of the many wonderful North American natives from just south of our southern US geopolitical border is the amazing Purple Mexican Spiderwort, Tradescantia pallida, aka Setcreasea pallida. Although most people know it as a hanging basket specimen, it is also a fabulous garden perennial from Zone 7b south. Here is a plant at JLBG The post From Mexico with Love appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

In January, we posted photos of the Asian epiphytic fern, Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’ growing in the ground, in our woodland garden. Here is another planting of it, growing as a lithophyte (on rocks) in our crevice garden. This six year old patch of ribbon fern shows that it doesn’t require soil to thrive. This The post Rockin’ Ferner appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

I’ve always loved the North American native Indian grass, Sorghastrun nutans, but found the commercially available clones and seed strains to be poor performers in our heat and humidity. For years, I kept my eyes open for a better selection, and finally on a 2018 visit to the SC Botanic Garden, I spotted an amazing, The post Slim Pickens appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

Ever since hearing the hit song, Signs, in 1970, I’ve been fascinated with collecting images of signs around the world, as a reflection of the public conscience. Signs show the entire range human consciousness, from edgy satire to a lack of educational basics. This week, when picking up a new pair of eyeglasses, I was The post Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

In Greek mythology, chimeras are imaginary creatures, often formed by combining parts of several other creatures together into one. Classic examples are centaurs and mermaids. In plants, there are three types of foliage chimeras, sectoral, mericlinal, and periclinal. Sectorial is represented by plants like Philodendron ‘Thai Constellation, which has randomly flecked leaves. Periclinal chimeras are The post The Mystery of Chimeras appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

Flowering now in a shaded part of the crevice garden is the lovely Cunila origanoides (American Dittany). Of the 20 species in the genus of shrub mints, all from the Americas, this is the only one with a US distribution, being found from in a wide band from New York west to Texas. These are The post Cunning Cunila appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

The genus Pancratium in the Amaryllid family has long been a garden favorite, despite few others gardeners growing them. There seem to be several etymological theories on the derivation of the name. The root, “Pagkration” means almighty in Greek. Consequently, some folks think the genus name refers to ancient Greek sport of pankration, which involves The post Sickenberg’s Pancreas Flower appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more

Eurybia hemispherica ‘Baby Blues’ (southern prairie aster), formerly known as Aster hemispherica, is a little-grown South Central US (Kansas south to Florida) native aster that’s thrived in our full sun garden since 2011. This Van der Giessen Nursery collection of this little-known mesic (moderately moist) to dryland species hails from the Black Belt region of The post The Aster hemisphere appeared first on Juniper Level Botanic Garden ..read more